A Horizons eBook
Meeting Your Spiritual Side An Introduction to the Spirit Self Reece W. Manley, DD, M.Ed., MPM速 eBook compliments of The Human Handbook
To Be Used with Crossing Twice: Answers from the Source The Importance of Meetings An old Southern term is to “get on your Sunday, go to meeting clothes” when we are getting dressed up. In other words, meetings are exciting events! Depending on the situation, you may be nervous as well. Meetings are always life changing events. Sometimes they make a very small life difference, and sometimes they change your world forever. Most of the time, important meetings are planned. We may do a little asking around about the person we are going to meet. We may try to learn more about their background, and what they like. We may go out of our way to look nice and make our very best impression. Let’s get you ready for your meeting of your spirit-self. It is the meeting of your lifetime. There are three things that must take place before any meeting.
An acknowledgement. You recognize you are going to meet someone new. You understand they are likely to be different than you are. You are going to treat them with respect, and you should expect to be treated the same way.
Effort to contact. You have to take action to have a true meeting take place. Whether it is just walking down the hall or a flight across the globe, a choice to take the action of meeting requires choosing to make some effort. Part of the effort includes making contact with your new friend or new situation. You must take an
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action, whether it is saying “Hello, my name is Reece” or picking up a kitten.
Response. Now it’s time to allow the person, place or thing to react to you. You can’t control how they will react, but you can hope for the best. Your mind-self is readily standing by to quickly make connections to past experiences similar to the meeting you are about to have.
From here great conversations take place. Plans can be made. You can reac h the Moo n, Alic e! No grea t act take s place without a first meeting.
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The Meeting of a Lifetime! There is someone desperate to meet you. It’s You. You see, you are made up of three parts. Your body-self and your mind-self you most likely know. They are easy parts of you to experience. Whether you are stumping your toe or receiving a hug, your body-self is always on the job. It provides you with sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. It is the part of you that communicates to the mind-self. The mind-self you know very well, too. It is the part of you that acquires and processes all the millions of bits of information your body-self sends to your mind-self. It also regulates all the parts of your body-self. The mind-self sends out chemicals that produce the changes you feel as emotions. Although, they are not true emotion, but we are going to talk about that later! But, let’s do talk about the emotions as you know them. The mind-self is the producers of these as well. It’s a fascinating process. Let’s say you are going into your favorite coffee shop. If you’re not a coffee shop type person then head on into the bar. When you get there, you see your wonderful friend Alice across the room! A grin spreads on your face because you’ve had some great times with Alice. Why, just last week you and Alice… well, we won’t go there. But, you and Alice know how to have a good time! Then you remember Alice owes you $20. You smile even more broadly. Not only are you going to get to see this fabulous friend of yours named Alice, Alice is going to pay you back $20. This is just great! You say “Hello there, Alice” as Alice gives you a quick warm hug. Oh, how you love those hugs from Alice! Now, if someone were to push the pause button on the scene of you and Alice: PAUSE. How are you feeling emotionally right now? You feel happy to see Alice, 6|Page
happier that Alice seems happy to see you, and you are even probably going to get paid. There is no reason not to be happy. Okay, let’s hit PLAY. As Alice, your good friend, ends the hug she says, “I know I already owe you money, my good friend, but, could you buy me a cup of coffee (or a bottle of beer, depending on where you and Alice are!)”. Oh no, that’s not something that’s really great news. Down goes the happy feeling and up comes a feeling of hesitancy. Hmm, your mind-self thinks: She is a good friend, and she is right here. The body-self receives some signal from the outside world. It sends the information on to the mind-self and awaits instructions. The mind-self springs into the mind accessing your entire life experiences and information about past your situation. Your mind-self cannot access the future, so it has to go on experience. If your mind-self could access the future, you wouldn’t be reading this. More likely you’d be on the beach with someone famous with a pina colada and a billion dollars in the bank! The Role of Spirit-Self in Relationships You have probably thought of your life in terms of your body, your mind, and your emotions. But, you may also define yourself by relationships. You may take great joy in being in a crowded room or friends, or you may be someone who would prefer to be alone by a quiet lakeside. If in the above example you found a great deal of joy in being in the coffee shop (or pub) with your good friend Alice, you are thinking about how your body-self and mind-self relate together to things outside of the body. Even so, are they really outside of the body? Think about it for a moment. You have simply received information from the body through sight. The mind-self has identified it by looking through all of your history and decided there is a closely matching experience that 7|Page
was pleasant. When you are interacting with Alice, the body-self is hearing and passing it on to the mind-self which is accessing information about language, history, personal experience, monetary goals, and thousands of other things. If you are only living with your body-self and mind-self, there are two things you will never truly achieve. True emotion and true relationship. Let’s put a capital on those because they are very important. The bodyself and the mind-self are incapable of producing TRUE EMOTION and TRUE RELATIONSHIPS. The body-self and the mind-self are enough to get you through life. In fact, that is exactly what they were designed to do. They are there to serve you. So, let’s talk about the third part of who you are. You are body-self, mind-self and SPIRIT – SELF. The spirit-self is the eternal part of who you are. That part of you which resides and uses the body-self and the mind-self for your life in this world. The spirit-self is the part of you which is connected to the Creator, the Source, God, the Universe, whatever term you wish to use to describe the One.
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Preparing to Meet Your Spiritual Side Even so, how do you reach this spirit-self. How do you know it does exist? After all, if everything you experience comes from the body-self and the mind-self, why bother with the spirit-self anyway? If you feel perfectly loved and are completely satisfied with your life, there is no need to proceed. You have discovered a different path, if every one of your needs, wants and desired, then stop reading by all means! However, if you have had moments where your life could have been better, your love was not perfect or you didn’t feel 100% great about yourself, then you need to get in touch with your spirit-self. Let’s do it. Meeting your spiritual side is going to be much like meeting anyone else new. You may be hesitant or think it’s going to be hard. But, it is simply you saying hello to you. Your spirit-self differs from your mind-self in three important ways. It is eternal. It is connected to the Creator. It is connected to others’ spirit-selves. We are going to begin to explore our spirit-self through a very simple visualization. If you’ve read Crossing Twice, you know that visualization is an action of the spirit-self upon the mind-self using the mind-self’s information. That isn’t important to understand at this point, but when we talk about visualization. I just want you to make a quick mental note that I mean the mind-self and the spirit-self are going to be aware of each other.
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Our Visualization Journey To begin visualization exercises you will want to find a quiet place where you will be undisturbed for a few moments. You will want to minimize information coming in from the body-self. You should be as comfortable as you can make yourself. Often, because the mind-self does pay so much attention to the body-self, people like to play soothing music. That is completely optional. The journey we are about to go on is available to you with or without music. Another thing I highly recommend is a single lit candle. This will give your eyes something to do and not be so tempted to run about when you are focusing. Plus, a candle provides grounding. It is something familiar you can open your eyes and come back to the present should you become slightly disoriented at any time during the process.
You will find this exercise works best if you have a friend who reads the visualization below while you listen and then exchange. Alternately, record this is in your voice first, then attempt to visualize listening to the recording.
Begin by breathing deeply in through your nose and release it out. Close your eyes or focus on the white light of the candle. Take another deep breath, hold it for a second and release it slowly. As we begin, close your eyes or focus your eyes on the light of the candle. In your mind’s eye, just using your imagination, imagine a beautiful beach. White sand spreads out to either side of you as far as you can see. The sky is a perfect blue. There are no clouds yet it is cool and comfortable. There is a soft breeze blowing and this adds to you feeling 10 | P a g e
cool and comfortable. The sand is warm under you. Warm and so soft. So, very, very soft. Take a moment and breathe in the air. Smell the ocean which now spreads out before you. For mile and miles there is beautiful, shallow, brilliant blue water. It starts out the color of a dark navy far away, and as it approaches the sand, it turns a color almost like a diamond. The waves are gently coming in against the beach. Take a moment in your imagination and see the beach. This beautiful beach and the sand and the ocean are very special. They are the one place in the world where you are absolutely safe. There is nothing that can reach you here. As you are seeing your beautiful beach and the rich blue ocean, I want you to imagine a small child on the edge of your beach. The child is very beautiful, and you immediately feel great love for this child. The child is sad. The child is hunched down, their sweet little head is bowed down and there are arms are pulling tight across their knees. Their hair comes down over their eyes, but you can still make out small little tears running down their cheeks. Now I want you to walk on the sand toward the child very slowly, very gently. You cannot explain it, but you love this child very, very much, and you do not want this child to be sad so you walk up to the child. As you reach the child, you can hear sobs. You see some scrapes and bruises on the child. You see the ocean, beautiful and perfect beyond the child. But the child looks far from being okay. You reach your hand out. The child is frightened by your touch and pulls away a bit from your touch. Sooth this child that you are continuing to feel such a building love for. Again, you can’t explain it, but the love you feel as if you have known this child for a long, long time.
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Hear yourself saying to the child, “This is a safe place. It is the safest place in the whole world. You are safe here.” Imagine the child turning to face you. Their face is confused but so very hopeful. You sense some very bad things have happened to this child, but you know this child needs your love. Here on your warm beach with cool winds sits this child looking at you now for help. “This is a safe place,” you say again, and, “You are safe, and you are loved here, tell the child.” You can tell by the hope on the child’s face. they believe you. Now reach out your arms to the child. Go very slowly. Very gently. Now allow yourself to see the child taking your hand. You draw the child sweeping them up in your arms. The child feels so very light and so very fragile. You hug the child close, and they put their little arms around your back and hugs you very tightly. Here you are on your cool, safe beach. You are holding the child in your arms, and you sit down quietly with the child on your lap. The child begins to smile up at you and your heart swells up with love. You know you must protect this child. You know you must love this child. See these things in your hand and begin to slow down all the actions. Let the waves move more slowly. Feel the wind calming down and lifting the child’s hair very slowly. Slowly. Now hold the scene in your mind as if you have a magical ability to slow down time itself. Slower and slower things move until it is a photograph. A photograph of you holding a small child in front of an endless ocean on a perfect day. Freeze the image in your mind and let it fade quietly. But fade into the white light of the sun in the scene or the candle in front of you. Take a deep cleansing breathe. 12 | P a g e
Congratulations. You have met your spirit-self. Not the child on the beach, but the strong, safe, loving person who reached out and took the child in your arms. That was your spirit-self. You are the comforter, the lover of the child. That is your spirit-self. It is capable of tapping into the great expanse and power of the source. It approaches things as with wonderful tenderness, love and power. You are also the child. The child is the body-self and mind-self. It is limited in the ability and is often scared and frightened. Your boy self and mind-self Together, you are you. And, you have met your spiritual side.
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Concluding Thoughts and Blessing In this session, you have accomplished the following: You have learned the concept of body-self, mind-self and spiritself. You have learned that without the spirit-self engaged, the bodyself and the mind-self are capable of supporting only a limited life. You have learned how the body-self and spirit-self interact. You have learned about visualization. You have completed a visualization and have met your spirit-self. To be most effective, you should perform this visualization several times during a week’s span. Keep your awareness open. See if you can recreate the visualization during the day, recalling the most important parts of the exercise for you.
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Blessing I offer this prayer for you, dear reader: Creator, as these words are read, stir your glory and your light and send forth Your Sp offer this prayer for you, dear reader:ad these words. Strengthen them, Creator, with all of your love, peace and power. May all their paths be good paths. May they rise to meet the challenges not with their mind-self or body-self alone, but with their spirit-self. There where you dwell. That part of them that is eternally loved, supported and protected. Whoever, wherever they are, let them know Your love for them and know that love comes with acceptance and call to follow the right path. Creator, bless them this day and all the days to come. May they continue to seek out Your power and love. Amen. If you’ve enjoyed this eBook, we invite you to visit www.SpiritThinking.net and check our library. Just for you, we have arranged a very special copy of Crossing Twice: Answers from the Source. Click to purchase.
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